Colorado’s pot sales-tax revenue soared in January

Statewide retail marijuana sales-tax receipts increased 153 percent in January, totaling more than $3.5 million this year, compared with $1.4 million in January 2014, the first month that recreational marijuana was legal.
The statistics are included in the most recent report from the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division. The $3.5 million came from a 10 percent sales tax applied to recreational marijuana.
Excise-tax receipts for retail marijuana also increased substantially, to $2.3 million in 2015 from $195,318 in January 2014. A state rule exempting some pot businesses that were transferring from medical sales to recreational from paying excise taxes kept these receipts low in the first part of 2014.